Allison Janney to Star in Bad Robot Thriller 'Lou' (Exclusive)

Academy Award winner Allison Janney has signed on to star in Lou, a dramatic thriller from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot production banner.

Anna Foerster, known for her work on TV’s Outlander and Jessica Jones, is helming the project, which will be produced by Abrams and Braden Aftergood (Hell or High Water).

The script, by Maggie Cohn with revision by Jack Stanley, follows a young woman and her landlord, Lou, who team up to track down the former’s child after the girl is kidnapped by the woman's estranged husband. The story has been described as being a tonal mix of Thelma and Louis and Taken.

Janney will play the landlord, a hard-shelled and rule-breaking woman that has unexpectedly impressive tracking abilities, among other skill sets.

Lou was previously set up at Paramount but is now in turnaround, with Bad Robot raising financing to make the movie independently. A spring 2019 start is being eyed.

The versatile Janney, who stars on the CBS comedy Mom, last appeared on the big screen in I, Tonya, which earned her an Oscar for portraying disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding’s bitter mother. The actress is coming off of shooting Bad Education, a drama with Hugh Jackman, and is set to appear in Jay Roach’s untitled Roger Ailes-Fox news movie. She is also attached to topline Tate Taylor’s Breaking News in Yuba County.